VMHQ Happenings

I feel that familiar feeling of trying to do too much… and so I’m paring back. Again. Walks among crunchy leaves, baking, EIGHTEEN MILLION LOADS OF WASHING. You know, quiet stuff. And the kids are at seriously adorable ages, so I spend a lot of time just staring at them or making them say funny things for my own amusement. Here’s what’s been going down lately…

Making : Two bobble-stitch hat-and-scarf combos for the girls. I’ve made it as far as row 3. Sigh.Cooking : Lots of stuff! But this week is cauliflower soup with roasted cauliflower croutons, stuffed capsicums with quinoa, feta, pine nuts and pomegranate, brioche, apple-cinnamon cake, regular bread, hot cross buns, yogurt pancakes, pumpkin lasagne, gnocchi, a spinach and tofu curry, and these amazing cookies, among other things.Drinking : A steady diet of tea.Reading: Is This It? By Bob Geldof. I bought it years ago and spotted it on my shelf just after Peaches died. It is utterly fascinating, such a great read.Wanting: To slow down.Looking: At the leaves changing colour. The parks are very pretty around here!Playing: Outside in the beautiful warm sunshine. Before we have to hunker down for the winterrrrrWasting: Bread ingredients. Still trying to nail a proper loaf in this goddamn machine.Sewing: This has had the least amount of my attention!Wishing: That dishes did themselves.Enjoying: The change of season, and a hot cup of tea.Waiting: For it to get proper cold before we turn the heating on. I’m trying to see how long we can last! We had a fireplace in our country cottage getaway last week and it was divine. Remind me not to buy a house without a fireplace.Liking: Reading lots of blogs again. I’ve resisted adding to my reader because I just didn’t have time, but I love the peeks into other people’s worlds so much I have allowed a little indulgence.Wondering: What I’m going to do.Loving: Being a mother of toddlers.Hoping: The toddlers like me as a mother.Marvelling: Pepper sleeping! (shhhh let’s not mention it in case I tempt fate! but it is GOOD).Needing: More soup recipes. So I can add them to here!Smelling: Very stinky cheese, a gift from my mother-in-law when we spent Easter in the Yarra Valley. Oh my, it is utterly delicious.Wearing: Black woollen leggings from who knows where, I can’t remember. “To Kill a Mockingbird” T-shirt from Out of Print clothing (amazing – if you haven’t been there, check it out!), and a charcoal-and-black cardigan with a heart and crossbones print from Modcloth (aff link). Oh and some TOMS shoes.Following: Momma’s Gone City on Instagram. When she got Theo, the whole world went a bit soft, even I did (and I’m not a dog person). The pictures she started taking of her boy napping with their puppy went viral, and for good reason! Utterly adorable.Noticing: I have a smidgen more energy. This is delightful. Also, apparently my hill-walks and half-assed exercising while playing outside with the kids (squats in between kicking the ball, for example) are PAYING OFF. It’s a special feeling, Lloyd.Knowing: That sleep is the key to everything.Thinking: About my kids who wander into their bedrooms and shut the door to play. When I knock on the door and ask to come in they say “no!”. So I don’t! It is glorious! So much sibling childhood magic is gonna happen behind that closed door, away from the omnipresent mother. So many hair-pullings and slappings, too I imagine.Feeling: Like this is a pretty special time of life.Bookmarking: More toddler activities at Pinterest. They’re getting to that age now where they enjoy this kind of stuff. And I do too, because they do it for longer than 7.34 minutes. Also this grease-fighting lavender dish soap, and this beautiful DIY foaming cleanser.Opening: The freezer to put in lots of the things I’m trying to store, or stuff I’ve baked in advance, but it’s utterly chock-full right now. I need a deep-freeze – any recommendations?Giggling: At very dry British humour. As usual. It never fails to make me laugh, especially because it’s so casual – the funniest line in the world thrown in there like it ain’t no thang. Always catches me off guard, which is the best kind of humour.Listening: To endless news podcasts on Stitcher while I cook. Also the Hope*ologie podcasts, the Beyoncé album, the Oprah/Deepak Chopra 21-Day Meditation Experience, and I’ve been singing the Postman Pat Special Delivery Service theme song for about a week straight now.

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I just bought a deep freeze and clocked a special order at Coles to fill it! I got mine through a friend, but I’d suggest gumtree. And I hear you about the bread. I have yet to make a good loaf of bread, the only thing I can do well there is pizza dough. And even then I forget to turn it on and never have 1.5 hours when I actually need it!

Re bread: I rang the Lauke helpline and they are SO helpful. They have a whizzbang spreadsheet for your brand of machine and work out the ratios of everything for you. Give them a call, you won’t be sorry! 🙂

Ah, winterrrr is coming. This time of year is my favourite. Gentle rainy days mingle with big brash blue ones. The hopeology podcasts sound wonderful. Audible app keeps me happy in the mundane. Did you make that gorgeous hot air balloon light? I’d love to give it a whirl for my boys’ room. Thank you so much for sharing the face wash. I really appreciate it. Have a beautiful day x

I love the audible app, and I often listen to a lot of podcasts, especially when going to bed. So much good stuff out there in the ether! And then I jam out to Spotify, which is terribly fun.

I am slowly getting used to this weather, having spent the bulk of my life in Queensland, where there is no autumn! I forget what it’s like to have to wait until the sun reaches you before you can go out. And how cold your bed is at night when you’ve forgotten your hot water bottle 😉

That’s a big list of lovely, right there!
I do miss the toddler stage, as we’ve just entered the tweens here, and I’m a bit scared. She’s still my best bud, but it is different.
First remotely cold day here, and I’m lamenting the end of summer already. Think I need a big bowl of spinach and tofu curry right now 🙂

Oh it was so nice! It was a recipe from Sneh at Cook Republic’s new book Tasty Express. Goodness. And even better the next day, of course!

I do wonder what it will be like when they’re older. I hope they still love their mamaaaaaaa and the tween years don’t scare me with their bras and talking on the phone and general parent-frightening goings-on! Let me know how you find it…

All good things…especially SLEEP!
I grew up with a mother who refused to turn on the heat. We had a giant wood burning stove…but that only really heated the downstairs, upstairs where the bedrooms were was always freezing! We still moan about the freezing cold conditions. Even now when we go home in the winter, my sister and I always head straight for the thermostat and turn it up five degrees!

I love these taking stock posts 🙂 High fives for more sleep and energy!
I have 2 little boys (almost 4 and 21 months) and I’m noticing the food consumption round our parts steadily increasing – I think a deep freeze is in our immediate future too.
Hope the good sleep is a more permanent feature in your landscape 🙂

I’m so pleased to hear Pepper is sleeping. Does that mean you are getting some shut eye? And I can’t wait to eat some smelly cheese. 11 weeks to go. Love this list and reading about the going ons in your life at the moment. x

I AM! oh touch wood, but it is glorious. I will have two helpings of cheese, just for you – I’m thoughtful like that. And thank you, as always, for your lovely words of encouragement. Hope all is well with you!

Oh, I love that you’ve stopped to realise this magic time and it made me wonder if I did the same when Luca and Zig were super-little. I think I did. I hope I did. And I should probably be doing that now, too, but I just had to do school pick-up in the rain so all bets are off.

Also, we’re a week into night weaning and I can’t believe I can actually report that I have a baby who doesn’t boob overnight anymore. Woooooo! Still not sleeping through but way, WAY more sleep happening all round so I am happy about that. Sleep is key. x

ONE STEP CLOSER! I remember feeling so surprised and grateful and so proud of Peps for growing up. And that we were making inroads to everyone getting the sleep they needed.

I do think I soak in all the stages, but who knows. I think it’s probably part of life to age and look back on your children’s childhood and think you could have paid more attention. I pay ALL of the attention, and I still think I’ll feel like that!

Noooo! Not the Postman Pat theme song! That one’s a killer. I hear you on the soup, I’m just about to make some roast pumpkin and sweetcorn soup for dinner. As for the heating, I’m pretty much spending my whole day in my dressing gown, trying to avoid putting the heater on. I had it on for an hour today and felt like a whimp so I turned it back off again. I’m freezing!

Oooh we’re having roasted sweetcorn and black bean enchiladas. I love corn! And my fingers are freezing. Mr Sun decided to hang out behind the clouds most of the day, dammit. And how funny, I don’t even know the words to the postman pat song so I sing “Special delivery service, doing stuff all day”

Mmmm stinky cheese. I am going to get CRAZY on an enormous pile once this bebe exits my belly in a few weeks.. Alongside wine. So Much Wine. I find myself hoping the same thing (that I’m getting at least 3.5 stars out of 5 for my mothering though some days I do wonder) and pinning the crap out of toddler activities in preparation again for the arrival of my belly dweller and the ever increasing desire to get organised and keep the toddler amused!

I’m thinking about getting a deep freeze too. The past week or so I have this deep desire to fill my freezer with food & clean my skirting boards & under the loung ….yeah , the baby is totally coming soon 😉

Have you tried barley broth? It sounds a bit yuck but I use the recipe from Hugh’s Veg Everyday & it’s now one of my winter faves. If you want I’ll send you the recipe x

I was very dubious of barley too but this soup changed me. I’m pretty much the only person in the house who likes it but I couldn’t care less! It’s so winter-y & comforting & topped with garlic fried mushrooms is the way to go!!! I’ll email it to you today x

Yes, I’m feeling that need to slow things down too… can’t quite get there though. My early mornings are certainly helping. I’ve been getting up at 5.30am for my workouts but I’m a bit unwell today so I ‘slept-in’ until 7.30. I just get so much more done now but it means I’m really tired by about 9pm every night!